Rebels prepare for election as Kiev inks gas deal with Russia

in Donetsk Ukraine's leaders have made a breakthrough in talks to form a new coalition government and clinched a winter gas deal with Russia, as separatist rebels in eastern regions prepared for an election that is backed by Moscow and rejected by the West.

President Petro Poroshenko asked his allies to support Arseniy Yatsenyuk's bid to continue as prime minister after the parties led by the two men came out on top in last Sunday's parliamentary election.

“Today, as never before, the country needs unity and we have to make the first proposal, to show that we take very responsibly the formation of the government and the content of the coalition agreement,” Mr Poroshenko said.

The announcement clears a major potential stumbling block from the path of pro-EU parties that want to form a coalition to end the conflict in the east, lead the country out of economic crisis and implement sweeping anti-corruption reforms.

Vladimir Groisman, a close ally of Mr Poroshenko, said the president's eponymous party, Mr Yatsenyuk's People's Front, and the new Self-Reliance party, which came third in the election, have formed a working group to forge a coalition deal.

Ukrainian media reported that the Fatherland party of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko – which came a distant sixth in the elections as its leader’s influence continued to wane – was also in talks to join the coalition.

Mr Groisman said the nascent alliance could include any party committed to forming “a strong, pro-European reformist majority, because that’s what we really need”.

On Thursday night, Ukraine agreed a gas deal with Russia to repay €2.5 billion in arrears and €1.2 billion for new fuel until March. Brussels said the agreement should ensure uninterrupted winter supply for Ukraine and EU states.

Breakaway

Ukraine’s new government will try to resolve a conflict in the east with Russian-backed rebels who want to break from Kiev. Fighting since April has killed more than 3,700 people and displaced about a million, in what Kiev says is a Russian-backed bid to dismember Ukraine and wreck its attempt to pivot away from Moscow towards the West. Tomorrow, the rebel Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” will hold elections to find leaders and deputies for so-called people’s councils.

In Donetsk, only campaign posters for current self-proclaimed prime minister Alexander Zakharchenko are visible in the streets, and locals seem to have little idea about the candidates running for the assembly.

Russian recognition

Russia says it intends to recognise the legality of the votes, which the rebels insist will bestow legitimacy on the leaders of their fledgling republics and strengthen their bid to break ties with the rest of Ukraine.

"We deplored the comments made by Russian foreign minister (Sergei) Lavrov regarding the forthcoming elections on the territory of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president François Hollande told Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a joint telephone conversation that they would not recognise the election. The Kremlin said Russia advocated "sustainable dialogue between the central Ukrainian authorities and representatives of Donetsk and Luhansk regions".